A known roof apparatus for a vehicle is disclosed in JP2006-27493A (which will be hereinafter referred to as Reference 1). The roof apparatus disclosed in Reference 1 includes a pair of shoe members (a front shoe member and a rear shoe member) mounted to be movable in a longitudinal direction of the vehicle along a guide rail provided at each edge of an opening portion in a width direction of the vehicle, the opening portion being formed at a roof portion of a vehicle body of the vehicle. The front shoe member and the rear shoe member are positioned to be separated from each other in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle. The roof apparatus also includes a support member of which a front edge portion is rotatably connected to the front shoe member and of which a rear edge portion engages with the rear shoe member to thereby support a movable panel opening and closing the opening portion. In a case where the front and rear shoe members move in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle, the movable panel opens and closes accordingly.
The front shoe member disclosed in Reference 1 is assumed to be rotatably connected to the front edge portion of the support member in a state where a support pin, of which a center line (an axial line) extends in the width direction of the vehicle, penetrates through the shoe member and the support member in the extending direction of the support pin. In this case, in order to inhibit the support pin from disengaging in the width direction of the vehicle, an end portion of the support pin that penetrates through the shoe member and the support member may be pressed and crushed by riveting, or a circumferential groove is formed at the end portion of the support pin so that an E-ring is fitted to the circumferential groove. As a result, manufacturing man-hours and/or the number of components of the roof apparatus increase, which may lead to an increase of a cost.
A need thus exists for a roof apparatus for a vehicle which is not susceptible to the drawback mentioned above.